It was one of those days…. you know when it seems like you just can’t catch your breath. I have been helping a single mom with 2 teenagers find a place to sleep and a person in recovery to not lose hope and could not come up with a solution.
I said good bye to a great co-worker and friend and could not hold back my tears, I heard a story of abuse and wanted to become violent. I heard of deaths and violence and felt I was breaking.
I came home exhausted and tired feeling overwhelmed with the needs in our communities and the pain of our neighbors and I needed to regroup.
For me that meant watching something silly and something sad and crying over wedding proposals to release my emotions. (yes, there is a sentimental part inside of me). It meant praying and refocusing on the fact that I am not the healer of all wounds.
So today is a new day. I started with yoga (well I least I tried), had a good quiet time and worked from home to see some sunshine and hearing birds looking out the window.
Nature does wonders for me!
I picked the spiral in the picture, because I realize that there is beauty even in sadness and anger and frustration. When we come to the end of it and realize that we cannot fix it all, we cannot heal the world, when we realize that we are part of a long chain of people working together to make things happen.
Sometimes when I keep my head down and only look at one step ahead of me I don’t see the beauty, don’t see the connections, don’t see the many pieces that come together to make this beautiful spiral, I don’t see there are people all around me that are doing amazing work and that together we can tackle one thing at a time.
So, thank you to my many friends and partners in the work who make the work possible. Together we are empowering impoverished neighborhoods to thrive.